The present invention relates to a dolly for transporting boats, particularly relatively small boats. Various types of dollies are used to move small boats or dinghies, with the boats or dinghies being either of the rigid configuration, or inflatable, or a combination of both. Such boats when combined with their floor boards and other attendant equipment can become quite heavy and unwieldy to the extent that one person cannot move or transport them on land without assistance.
Dollies for boats are known, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,410 to Raymond, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,774 to Kluge. Such dollies usually act to transport the boat while it is in its horizontal position, i.e., the same position that the boat would assume while it is on the water.
The dollies of the prior art in general have not been adequate to sufficiently reduce the energy required to load the boat onto the dolly so that an individual could easily move the boat. In most cases, the prior art dollies still require the user to carry half the load, as in a wheelbarrow, when loading the boat onto or off of the dolly, since they require the boat to be raised onto or taken off of the dolly while in flat, horizontal position, either right side up or upside down.
Further, even when the boat is on the dolly, there is a disadvantage since, if the boat is in a horizontal position, it is difficult to roll the boat up or down an average gangway or ramp since the railings on such gangways or ramps are spaced fairly closely together. This close spacing will not permit the passage of the boat in a normal horizontal orientation since the beam dimension of the boat is usually greater than the distance between the railings. When this situation is encountered, the boat must be moved by lifting it physically above the railings for passage over the gangway.